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  %EQUANIMITY SHALOM PEACE ACCEPT LOVED FALSE ENJOY+940409
    %ADDICT DISHONEST ASSUMPTION DEFENSIVE SECURITY+940409
    %TRAGIC SALVATION COMMUNITY DISSONANCE CONFLICT 940409

    There  is a sense in which addiction is the  condition
of  not  enjoying acceptance,   love,   peace, equanimity,
or shalom.  The addict is perpetually on guard,  defensive
and trying to achieve a goal, fix,  salvation, acceptance,
community.     The  tragedy  of addiction is  that  it  is
an  endless  and  futile search for that  which  does  not
exist;  i.e., individualistic technical means,  procedures
or efforts which have the power to achieve the perpetually
absent:  security,  goal, fix,  salvation,  and acceptance
offered by a  healthy community.  The  addict is thus in a
perpetual  state  of  cognitive  dissonance,    unresolved
conflict, agitation  and  fear.  The addict is driven by a
paradigm   which  has  embedded  in   it   utterly   false
assumptions, convictions  and beliefs---which thus lead to
essentially   false  patterns  of   thought,    attitudes,
decisions  and actions---which  are thus lacking  in  both
personal and communal integrity.

    In light of the above, the cure for addiction involves
the acceptance by the addict of other people's acceptance,
love peace,  equanimity and shalom.    The addict needs to
learn  how  not to be on guard,   defensive;   trying   to
achieve  a  goal,    fix,    salvation,   acceptance   and
community.   The addict needs to recognize that the search
for what does not and can not exist is futile.  The addict
needs  to recognize,  name,  describe,  and talk about the
utterly false assumptions,  convictions  and beliefs which
characterize  the  paradigm  which has  dominated  his/her
dysfunctional  life.   This needs to take place  within  a
supportive  community which accepts the addict as a person
who is in search of wholeness, integrity and health.

    In light of the above a collection of addicts who  are
operating  within  the addictive paradigm  cannot  through
their own effort transcend their paradigm---no matter  how
religious,    technically   competent,   highly   trained,
scholarly,   politically correct,  dedicated  to  selected
fundamentals, or self-righteous they may be.  They need to
accept a miracle which transcends their paradigm  in order
to enjoy that which they seek.

The   essence   of addiction is not to be  found  in   the
particular     choice     of    a    fix,      kind     of
specialization/technology,   or  particular  dysfunctional
pattern of behaviors.   Rather the essence of addiction is
in  the  pattern  of  basic  assumptions, convictions  and
beliefs of the paradigm which  motivates and leads addicts
who    fixate   upon   all   kinds   of   choice    fixes,
specializations,  technologies and  dysfunctional patterns
of  behavior;   and which  motivates  and  leads addictive
organizations  and/or  communities  which  nurture   those
common basic assumptions, convictions and beliefs.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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